1: Where you go I must follow.

Idea from Obi-Wan & Anakin by Charles Soule and illustrated by Marco Checchetto

Yoda: If after your return Anakin still wishes to leave us, then released he shall be. Jailers, the Jedi are not… and if he goes… your vow to Qui Gon Jinn break it you will?

Obi-Wan: No. I will complete his training in the force whether he is here or not. The currents that swirl around him, you've seen them. Qui Gon saw them to. That's why he asked for my vow. Anakin must be guided. If the dark side finds him…

Chapter 1: Belonging

His night terrors were getting worse. Obi-Wan could feel them in the force. Anakin had stopped sleeping on the floor beside his bed a little more than a standard year prior, part of it was that Anakin realized that Obi Wan wasn't leaving, the other much bigger part was that Anakin was now a teen. While he had always worn his emotions on his sleeve, since Anakin turned 13 standard he was far more restless.

It was time like these that Obi-Wan yearned for his master. Qui Gon would have known what to do. At 28, almost 29, Obi-Wan didn't feel any more prepared to be a master than he did 3 years ago.

The Mediation Gardens were always the place where Anakin was the most at peace. Obi-Wan remembered when he first took the boy there. Anakin's eyes widened in wonder with the amount of greens and blues there was. In Anakin's first days in the temple, he would beg Obi-Wan to visit daily. His blue eyes shining, begging the Jedi Knight. Like a father with a colicly newborn, Obi-Wan was exhausted and needed a break. The boy would venture through the gardens and with joy point out new discoveries to Obi-Wan. It was here that Anakin learned to meditate. It was here where Obi-Wan felt like he could do this. While they no longer had the time to venture the gardens daily, Obi-Wan made sure to spend time with the boy there weekly. Walking the grounds and mediating with him.

It was unusual for Anakin to be late to this, but the boy had become more distant. Obi-Wan was worried, he had expressed concern for the boy spending time with the Chancellor, but it had fallen on deaf ears of the council. Still, Obi-Wan hoped that his young padawan would arrive soon. Settling in the corner that Anakin gravited to mostly, Obi-Wan settled in and mediated.

A few minutes passed until he felt Anakin's presence ripple through the force. "I am sorry Master, I lost track of time." Anakin panicky spoke. Obi-Wan opened his eyes to look at his padawan. Rippled robes, too small for his fast growing face and tangled hair met him.

"Anakin, come sit let us meditate together" Anakin sat in front of him and sloppy got into pose. Stretching slightly as he peered at Obi-Wan and copied him. Obi-Wan could feel his restless, hear his foot slowly tapping. "Anakin what's bothering you."

The teen, avoided his master's glare and slowly fiddled his hands. "I've just been thinking, that's all." Anakin shifted slightly before him. "Qui Gon should have left me on Tatooine, I don't belong here."

"Anakin," Obi-Wan said softly "You belong here, Qui Gon wanted you to be here…" he paused, "I want you here."

Anakin, fiddled with his braid, "I wish others would feel that way."

"They do, they will."

Anakin shook his head, his face becoming contorted, "Master Windu, he chastised me in class again, I got a little too excited and well… I broke another training saber. He sent me to help with the creche and I was stuck tending to the younglings as Master Mundi glared at me. I was talking with the Chancellor." Anakin stopped quickly, afraid to continue, "he said that my path has a higher purpose I just…"

"Anakin," Obi Wan struggled on what to say, "You must continue your training, you are far too strong in the force to give up now"

"I want to still learn," Anakin said sharply, "just not here."

"Okay," Obi-Wan said tightly, "Let's us enjoy tonight, we'll figure out our path later"

In the days that followed, Obi-Wan made himself scarce, picking up more shifts tending to the padawans and younglings. Requesting another off world venture, preferable one that he did alone.

"Something troubling you, yes?" Yoda said brightly, catching Obi-Wan off guard. He looked at the old master wondering if he could feel the turmoil inside him.

"Anakin wants to leave the order," he said with a sigh.

"Ah, the young Skywalker grows bored mmmh?"

"No Master Yoda, he feels unwanted," Obi-Wan shifted leaning against the wall with his frame balancing on the balls of his feet. "If Master Qui Gon was here, he'd know what to do. To be honest in the past three years I feel lost. He bit back, shifting his position again. "I was never prepared for this, I never knew what it would feel like having another to watch over. I feel like every day I fail him. He grows brightly in the force, but he has great fear and I do not know how to help him through that."

"Young Skywalker's path, may be not here, but somewhere else." Yoda mused, "The Jedi are not jailers, leave he can. Go back to Tatooine mmmhh? Go back to the life he once had without us."

"I can not leave the boy, I owe it to Master Qui Gon to see this through." Obi-Wan rubbing his growing stubble in contemplation.

"Qui Gon was just a man," Yoda mused, "whole he is not, but one of many parts of the living force. You and Skywalkers paths different they may lie"

"No, where he goes I must follow, I owe the boy that much."

"Then so it shall be, the force is within each of us and send it may in other paths. Take him from here you shall, for a brief time see if the boy's thoughts change and if not leave and fulfill your master's wishes" Yoda said gravely.

Obi-Wan gave a sharp nod and left to find his padawan. It didn't take long to find him tinkering away on a droid, his face with a hint of a bruise. "Do you still wish to leave the order?"

"Yes," the young boy said without hesitation.

"Then we leave tomorrow, for a brief time we'll try this and if you still feel the same after a fortnight then we'll leave the order" Obi Wan stated resolved.

"We'll?," Anakin said blankly, "You don't need to go with me Master, I know I'm just a pathetic lifeform."

Obi-Wan held his breath as he thought of what to say, he knew that he deserved that. When Qui-Gon was alive he had treated Anakin terribly. Letting fear and anger cloud his judgment. "You're not a pathetic lifeform, Anakin when I said that I was upset at Master Qui-Gon, afraid that I would be abandoned… again… I'm truly sorry that you heard that."

Anakin looked up at his master, half in wonder that this in the years that they were together the only time Obi-Wan had broached his feelings and the other half in empathizing with him. Anakin quickly got up and brushed himself off. "Okay, so where will we go? Tatooine? Maybe Naboo again, I did like the water there"

"I don't know, but we'll figure it out together."